Implantable cardiac rhythm management systems have been used as an effective treatment for patients with serious arrhythmias. These systems typically include one or more leads and circuitry to sense signals from one or more interior and/or exterior surfaces of the heart. Such systems also include circuitry for generating electrical pulses that are applied to cardiac tissue at one or more interior and/or exterior surfaces of the heart. For example, leads extending into the patient's heart are connected to electrodes that contact the myocardium for sensing the heart's electrical signals and for delivering pulses to the heart in accordance with various therapies for treating arrhythmias.
Implantable cardioverter/defibrillators (ICDs) have been used as an effective treatment for patients with serious cardiac arrhythmias. For example, a typical ICD includes one or more endocardial leads to which at least one defibrillation electrode is connected. Such ICDs are capable of delivering high-energy shocks to the heart, interrupting the ventricular tachyarrythmia or ventricular fibrillation, and allowing the heart to resume normal sinus rhythm. ICDs may also include pacing functionality.
Although ICDs are very effective at preventing Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD), most people at risk of SCD are not provided with implantable defibrillators due to the difficulty of the implantation procedure. The primary reasons for this unfortunate reality include the limited number of physicians qualified to perform transvenous lead/electrode implantation, a limited number of surgical facilities adequately equipped to accommodate such cardiac procedures, and a limited number of the at-risk patient population that can safely undergo the required endocardial or epicardial lead/electrode implant procedure.
For reasons stated above, and for other reasons that will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the present specification, there is a need for systems and methods that improve delivery of cardiac sensing and therapy leads/electrodes. There is a particular need for tools and techniques that facilitate implantation of such systems. The present invention fulfills these and other needs, and addresses deficiencies in known systems and techniques.